Business World Doesn’t Welcome Teachers?

Kristin writes: After teaching in public schools full-time for five years I have completed my MBA and am ready to change fields. Unfortunately I am finding that the business world does not value former teachers. It seems that the fact that I have earned an MBA doesn’t really catch employers’ eyes since I do not have any work experience in business. Do you have any suggestions as to what types of companies I should target when searching for a job or how I might word my cover letter and resume to better attract the attention of potential employers?

The Career Doctor responds: I am so sorry to hear of your situation but unfortunately with the vast number of MBA programs around the country yours is not an uncommon problem. As educators we have focused so much on getting our undergrads to gain work experience through internships that many forget that MBA candidates often need to gain business experience as well. I had a client a few years ago who had NO work experience. She was a music major as an undergrad and went straight into an MBA program. Near graduation she was losing job opportunities to students who were only earning bachelor’s degrees in business – because these undergrads had several internships and could be hired at a lower salary. The key for you is that you DO have experience”¦ maybe not in running a company or managing a brand but five years of teaching does give you solid experience. And part of the problem may be that you are downgrading this experience. You also don’t tell me what you want to do with your MBA and that lack of focus could be another of your problems. So first decide what you want to do with your MBA. An obvious choice for a former teacher is to go into human resources into some sort of corporate training position but perhaps you are looking for something completely different than teaching. You first must sit down and determine a career goal. Once you completed this task you can start looking for prospective employers. The combination of your years of teaching and your MBA should really provide you with some rich skills to put on your resume and cover letter. From teaching identify all those transferable skills that you mastered that apply to the corporate world – things such as time management communications leadership etc. Then examine all the projects and cases you completed for your MBA and pull out relevant skills from them – financial analyses problem-solving strategic analysis communications etc. Finally of course you are going to need to use your network to get interview opportunities. Networking works for all job-seekers but it is especially important for career-changers. Get all the tools you need in this section of Quintessential Careers:Job & Career Resources for Career Changers.